Winters !!

The advent of the new year brought along with it the mystically enchanting cold, that at times is a nosy intruder, getting inside perniciously and squirming the insides, but mostly is like a harbinger of merriment and solace. Nothing is more peaceful than sitting in the silent warmth of the sun and trying to observe the serenity of the world around. The chirping of sparrows perched on a tree branch, the bitter baritone of crows , the distinct rustle of the whispering wind, the mystique generated by fog, the gradual disappearance of fog during day appeasing the spirit ; winter endows me with an opportunity to clearly perceive the gifts that nature endows upon us. Also for a die hard romantic like me winter is the time to rejoice love. The slow felicity that seeps in with the unobtrusive yet noticeable arrival of the winter teems the heart with emotion and overwhelms me to the hilt during the day . The entire notion of having someone to embrace during the cold to provide you with warmth brings a simper to my face. The yearning period, the melancholy that strikes in the absence of this someone, the drawing of parallels from a million places, all attain a superlative degree during the winters.The ideal setup for a perfect day for me would have to be a winter morning, me with my someone surrounded by nature all around, two large mugs of cappuccino, basking in the winter sun, and listening to Bob Dylan.But then, perfection is hard to attain, and i shall in all probability hanker for such a moment to overwhelm me throughout my lifetime without actually witnessing it(winter pessimism). One more thing that comes along with the winter is a sullen pessimism. While the day fills my heart with merriment and felicity, the sanguinity is engulfed by the dark along with day and a premonition of something calamitous fills the heart and makes a cynic out of me. With so many facets attributable to it, winters to me are enchanting and enigmatic.Enchanting as thy let me experience the peaks and depths of life. enigmatic as i am still not sure about what exactly do i feel towards winters and hence am awed by the enigma. Although i would not be wrong in saying that I prefer summers over winter in spite of their monotony as the troughs and the crests of winters at times are too much to handle, for me, winter is the season to experience the extremities of my thought process and to rediscover myself and my outlook towards life.

As Albert Camus aptly quoted-"in the depth of winter i finally realized ,that within me lay in invincible summer."

and with this post turning out to be as confusing as my thoughts about winter, it would be base treachery to suggest that i am not fairly pleased with the way its turned out to be.

The " Quack" saga !!

An end term tomorrow and am passing  away my time over facebook. But there seems to be an interesting catch. I shall first narrate the incident that is responsible to put me in such a morose mood. While chekcing out random profiles of friends of friends i bumped into a guys profile who was supposedly studying at IIM Calcutta. Seeing the IIM tag attached to it I was bound to get excited like a kid on seeing a lollipop and hence decided to carefully scrutinize the revered profile. On reaching the part where the guy was to describe his favourite books, he had a host of authors mentioned including P G Wodehouse, J.R.R Tolkien, Oscar Wilde, Ayn Randetc etc, which is not so unusual. The unusual part was that all the names were misspelt with the only exception being Chetan Bhagat. Seeing this made me nauseous. I sometimes thought that any decent, well educated person would have brains enough of not bragging to be someone who he isn't. But this is beyond comprehension. I have been coming across a throng of such charlatans recently but all of them did not befit the aforementioned requisites. But someone who belongs one of the best B-Schools in the country was certainly not expected to be a part of the herd. Seeing the kind of people i could bump into, IIM-C is out of my list of "B-Schools i wish to get into"(as if i would've even if i had wanted to).

Anyways, not digressing further,after the initial anger died and i came back to my equable self, i started mulling over this and tried to think of the reasons that makes people pretend. With a myriad thoughts racing through my head, the one that particularly caught my interest suggested it had to be a psychological disorder(no, I'm not terming them mad), an inferiority complex of sorts. I guess such people have under confidence issues and have a phobia of being laughed upon overtly and hence try and shy away from expressing their true selves and end up ascribing to the herd mentality. What i feel towards such individuals is pity more than anything else as they end up being someone else for the sake of someone else, and that too unwillingly.

While my conclusion may be termed as lucidly obfuscating, what it made me realize is that it's not always a charlatan's fault if he is so, but since it isn't mine either, and in spite of knowing i might be forming a wrong opinion even without knowing the person, i shall continue bearing a grudge against anyone who pretends to be who he is not(because that's who i am).

P.S -  You find many such people out there, I just came across one !!

LedZepp... !!

Amidst all the assignments, end terms and campaigns, the steady delirium inside me deems the time apt to appreciate the genius of “Led Zeppelin”. Since am technically inept to comment upon their music i shall write about the emotions that their music evokes. 

One of the most influential bands of the 1970’s, this band has been my personal favourite for the past three years now. Each song by this revolutionary band is an invasion into the hitherto unventured parts of the human psyche, encapsulating almost all elements of the spirit of mankind. also, since the band belonged to the 70’s there’s a simplistic pristinity in the way they go about their music, which is elusive with the bands of today.

The band has produced some of the finest tracks to have ever been created. What distinguishes them from other legendary bands of the 70’s is the synonymity between their songs and real life circumstances, at any point in time one can find a Zeppelin song that one could identify with.

Their music is product of a coalition of creative sensibilities of four geniuses. under no circumstance can one under appreciate the individual capabilities of the four rock legends that are to be found in Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, JPJ and John Bonham, but when put together, they transform into a force so overwhelming and indomitable, that all that one wishes to do is to be swept off their feet and blend into the nothingness of the universe where everything ceases to exist except their music

KUDOS to LED ZEPPELIN !!

Evolution of the HUL Logo

Being the largest FMCG company in the country, Hindustan Unilever Limited enjoys a position second to none. It was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has employee strength of over 15,000 employees and contributes for indirect employment of over 52,000 people. The company was renamed in late June 2007 to

“Hindustan Unilever Limited”.

MEANING OF THE NAME & HOW WAS IT NAMED& EVOLUTION OF THE NAME:

HUL means Hindustan Unilever Limited formally it is known as Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. in 1956. The company was renamed in late June 2007 to “Hindustan Unilever Limited”.

EVOLUTION OF THE LOGO:

The previous logo represents the green and healthy scenario of the Indian economy. And the current logo expresses “the vitality at the heart of our brands, our people and our values. Each icon within our logo represents an aspect of our business, showing that we add vitality in everything we do.”

(SUN): Our primary natural resource. All life begins with the sun – the ultimate symbol of vitality. It evokes Unilever's origins in Port Sunlight and can represent a number of our brands. Flora, Slim·Fast and Omo all use radiance to communicate their benefits.

(HAND & FLOWER): Hand is a symbol of sensitivity, care and need. It represents both skins and touch. Flower represents fragrance. When seen with the hand, it represents moisturizers or cream.

(BEE): Represents creation, pollination, hard work and bio-diversity. Bees symbolize both environmental challenges and opportunities.

(DNA): The double helix, the genetic blueprint of life and a symbol of bio-science. It is the key to a healthy life. The sun is the biggest ingredient of life, and DNA the smallest.

(HAIR): A symbol of beauty and looking good. Placed next to the flower it evokes cleanliness and fragrance; placed near the hand it suggests softness.

(PALM TREE): A nurtured resource. It produces palm oil as well as many fruits – coconuts and dates – and also symbolizes paradise.

(SAUCES & SPREADS): Represents mixing or stirring. It suggests blending in flavors and adding taste.

(BOWL): A bowl of delicious-smelling food. It can also represent a ready meal, hot drink or soup.

(SPOON): A symbol of nutrition, tasting and cooking.

(SPICE & FLAVOURS): Represents chilli or fresh ingredients.

(FISH): Represents food, sea or fresh water.

(SPARKLE): Clean, healthy and sparkling with energy.

(BIRD): A symbol of freedom. It suggests a relief from daily chores, and getting more out of life.

(TEA): A plant or an extract of a plant, such as tea. Also a symbol of growing and farming.

(LIPS): Represent beauty, looking good and taste.

(ICE CREAM): A treat, pleasure and enjoyment.

(RECYCLE): Part of our commitment to sustainability.

(PARTICLES): A reference to science, bubbles and fizz.

(FROZEN): The plant is a symbol of freshness, the snowflake represents freezing. A transformational symbol.

(CONTAINER): Symbolizes packaging - a pot of cream associated with personal care.

(HEART): A symbol of love, care and health.

(CLOTHES): Represent fresh laundry and looking good.

(WAVE & LIQUID): Wave symbolizes cleanliness, freshness and vigor. Liquid a reference to clean water and purity.

Had never looked at a LOGO from this angle before. Amused to see the thought process behind the design.

Triggers a nerve, doesn't it !!

Marketing the 'Surrogate" way

Watching an IPL match, a marketeer in the making is intrigued with the question of promoting Royal Challenge, a liquor brand by associating with music cds in advertisements and keeping it as the sponsor of an entire IPL team. Why is there the need to disguise it ? 

"Surrogacy", a word that still raises eyebrows in our society. But marketing does change the way one looks at things, doesn't it! Surrogate advertising is advertising which embeds a brand or product message inside an advertisement which is ostensibly for another brand or product. The prime reason for this is to circumvent a ban on direct advertisements of particular products. All of these activities technically do not violate the ban on direct advertising, but they still get consumers familiar with the company's branding

Advertisement for products like alcohol which are injurious to heath are prohibited by law in several countries as well as in India and hence these companies have to come lip with several other products that might have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the whisky or beer bottles of the same brand. Common examples include Hayward's and Kingfisher beer brands, McDowell’s No. 01 Whisky which is often seen to promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertising.

Generally, we always watch the advertisement of such product, but these products are not shown directly. The different things like Soda, Mineral Water, Music CD, Mega Cricket team clubs, Friends clubs are shown in advertisement. Many people know about the liquor products, but they can't understand where to purchase such Music CDs 'are available or where is that Mega Cricket Club, because actually many a time such products never marketed. These advertisements call the attention of viewers towards the liquor products.

Following are a few of the surrogate advertisements which are used by manufacturers of whisky and liquor products in India.

1. Bagpiper: It is a famous brand of whisky. In advertisement actually Bagpiper Club Soda is

shown at the place of whisky.

2. Royal Stag: It is well known as 'RS'. Instead of advertising whisky, manufacturer had shown

Music CD and Mega Cricket in the advertisement with theme "Make it Large". But people never try to purchase these products. They always know that Royal Stag means whisky.

3. McDowell's No.l Platinum: This whisky brand is advertised with surrogate product Soda. Indian Cricket

Team skipper MS Dhoni' tells that, "The No. 1 Spirit of Leadership". Through soda company is advertising their whisky products.

4. Royal Challenge: Some cricketers are shown in this advertisement, at the same time music is played. At the end of advertisement brand name 'Royal Challenge' is displayed in bold letters with very small 'Music CDs'. It was also advertised with the help of mineral water.

Customers and manufacturers are not interested in surrogate products, because we can’t see such products in a number as compared to whisky. Shortly, we can say, these advertisements are complying with legal aspects and advertising the correct product.So, Surrogate advertisements are successful strategy for marketing of whisky,liquor products. 

Despite knowing the real intention behind the advertising, we still look at the direct advertising of the product as a taboo.                                            

Triggers a nerve, doesn't it !!